This invention relates to packaging and is more particularly concerned with improvements in container structures which are adapted to be formed of paperboard or the like and which are particularly adapted for packaging certain types of products which are in a liquid, semi-liquid, or granular state and can be flowed into the open top of the container and subsequently dispensed therefrom.
In the ice cream manufacturing and distributing industry one method of handling the freshly made product, particularly for storage and distribution to ice cream parlors and similar outlets, has been to package the product in bulk containers which are of a size to accommodate relatively large quantities of the product, for example, ten gallons, and which are of tubular configuration so as to conveniently fit within freezers, or cold counters of more or less standard design, from which the product is dispensed. The tubular configuration of the containers has been found most desirable because it affords a number of advantages over other forms of containers in freezing and handling. The cylindrical containers employed have generally comprised a body member which is adapted to be fabricated of paperboard or similar sheet stock in initially collapsed condition and provided with edge or rim reinforcing and end closures adapted to seat thereon when the tubular body is opened up. In one form of container commonly used end closure structures have been provided which include a metal ring which is adapted to be seated on the rim of the tubular container and a closure disc of paperboard or similar relatively stiff sheet material, which is secured on the mouth of the body by the ring. The metal ring is angular in cross section and the closure disc is secured by the ring so that it may be torn out or separated from the ring and discarded when it is desired to open the container and remove the contents, for example, when it is dispensed in an ice cream parlor, leaving the ring as a reinforcing member on the rim of the opened container.
While the metal ring type closure has had extensive commerical use, it has obvious disadvantages in that it requires special machinery for manufacture and, when in use, it presents some hazards, since sharp edges may result in damage to the hands of the user. Efforts to provide a non-metallic closure have been generally unsuccessful heretofore for a number of reasons. It is a general object of the present invention to provide a closure arrangement for containers of the type described which may be fabricated of non-metallic material and which eliminates the objectional hazards inherent in the metal ring arrangements heretofore in use.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide a closure arrangement for containers of the type described which have a body fabricated from paperboard, or similar material, which arrangement affords sufficient rigidity to the rim of the container body, which may be securely positioned on the rim and which includes a readily removable and disposable insert in the form of a disc member of paperboard or the like.
A further object of the invention is to provide an end closure assembly for a container which is adapted for use in packaging a flowable product, such as ice cream, wherein the body is fabricated from paperboard, or similar material, and the closure assembly incudes a plastic ring member of a size and configuration to be securely seated on the rim of the container body and having an insert in the form of a removable and disposable disc of paperboard or similar material which is securely held in the ring member.
Another object of the invention is to provide an end closure assembly for a collapsible paperboard container body which is adapted for use in the packaging of bulk ice cream or other flowable product wherein the assembly comprises a ring member adapted to be securely seated on the rim of the container body, which is formed of a relatively rigid continuous plastic with a recess for seating therein a closure disc of relatively stiff paperboard, or the like, so that the disc is securely held in closure forming position and may be readily removed and discarded, with the ring member remaining on the body rim and reinforcing the same while the container is in use and the contents is dispensed.
To this end there is disclosed and claimed herein an arrangement for closing the open end of a tubular body of a container formed of paperboard or other relatively stiff material which is particularly adapted for use in packaging flowable product, such as ice cream, which closure comprises a rim reinforcing ring formed of a relatively rigid continuous plastic of generally angular cross section with a downwardly opening annular recess into which the rim of the container body is adapted to seat and an inwardly opening recess for receiving marginal portions of a closure disc of relatively stiff paperboard or the like.
The invention will be best understood with reference to the paperboard bulk ice cream container which is hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein: